A FOOTBALL finance expert insists a downturn in Premiership attendances is not indicative of an overall crisis in the English top flight.

Swathes of empty seats have been in evidence across the country in the opening weeks of the season with high ticket prices and negative tactics blamed for the decline.

However, Paul Rawnsley of accountancy firm Deloitte and Touche believes the financial strength and stability of the English game in comparison with some of its European competitors suggests there is no cause for panic.

"Clubs should be conscious of the issue but it's not a crisis," Rawnsley said. "If we were talking about Italian or Spanish clubs there are some much more radical things that could be done in those countries. They have not developed their facilities as well and the football business is not as well developed.

"The numbers and the experience we have had shows the English football business is more stable and better developed than in many places in Europe."

However, a note of caution was sounded that English clubs stand to lose more from falling attendances than other clubs in Europe's top leagues.

"While the largest proportion of earnings does come from TV money, the reliance on TV money is (historically) less in England than in other top leagues in Europe," Rawnsley added.

"They generate a lot more money from matchday receipts than most clubs in Europe do.

"If attendances do drop and stay down it is potentially a major loss of revenue. But the football business in England, in terms of non-matchday earnings and commercial revenue, is better than clubs in Europe's other top leagues and sometimes that is down to ground ownership and investing a lot of money into those grounds.

"It's not just a matter of getting money from people on a match day, it's about the use of that ground for the rest of the year as well. In the rest of Europe, in general, clubs do not own their grounds, they haven't invested in such good facilities and that is part of the reason why they don't charge as much in admission and don't generate as much revenue on match day.

"There isn't a need for radical change. Revenue growth in general has slowed, it had been growing at 20 per cent a year plus which is phenomenal growth in any industry."